Tears of Joy

I push my swimmers hard. Don’t get me wrong, we have fun in my groups, but when we are not working on drills, turns, and dives, they have more than their work cut out for them. I may not be doing as many yards as other groups with swimmers between 11 and 13 (I only have an hour and forty-five minutes in the water, which works out nicely though), but I do hold quality workouts. Much of my theory on coaching stems from the idea of the swimmers holding themselves to higher standards. Essentially, I expect my swimmers to be trying to practice outside of their limit, which is something I know that isn’t abnormal for any coach (link to blog about interval training and progressive overload). However, this intense training leads to a lot of success (which I love) and my swimmers shedding tears of joy whenever we do something fun, whenever we play a game. Here’s what I do when my swimmers deserve a couple minutes of fun, and when I am in a good mood. This usually happens because of a divine bribe (link to previous blog).

Relays.  (link to video of a relay, one of the best) This game is great to play when I want to do sprints towards the end of a practice and I forgot my stop watch. It gives my swimmers the opportunity to race and compete with their team while they carry the support and expectations of their teammates. My swimmers will usually sprint faster during relays anyways, which I’m sure any coach can attest to. I also like to do this with other groups. This lets everyone intermingle and meet someone new who is still on our team just under a different group. I also have this thing about not knowing people’s names and introducing yourself to them. I love watching my thirteen year olds walk up to a nine or ten year old, stick their hands out, and say “hey, I’m ______, what’s your name?” Especially when I make them do it again because their handshakes look weak. I better see some veins popping out. 

Sharks and minnows. This game is brutal. Which is probably why I love it so much. For those poor souls who have never played this game, let me introduce it. One person starts as the shark and tries to catch the minnows as they swim across to the other pool (remember, 25 yards). The catch is the shark can only tag the minnow on their heads when they are out of water. When a minnow gets tagged, he/she becomes a shark. The lone survivor is the winner. Last time I played this, swimmers were pulling on each other’s feet, blocking them from getting air, holding each other so they could not get to the other side, and my personal favorite, slapping their teammates on the head like a whack-a-mole (picture of whack-a-mole game). A little bruise every now and then makes them tougher. That’s my mentality. Though, I haven’t done this in a while since I like my swimmers. Kind of.

Marco, Polo. I have no idea who named this game Marco, Polo. My swimmers actually think that Marco and Polo were such great explorers they had to yell each other’s names in order to find one another. However, I’m pretty sure this guy is the person named for this game (link to his bio). Anyways, this game involves one person with eyes closed yelling Marco while the other members must say Polo in unison whenever the person saying Marco says just that.. Marco has to find a Polo, who then becomes the Marco. My favorite thing to do is limit the space in which they can play this game. I will typically go one lane, (about 7 feet wide) for ten yards, or 30 feet. I usually have twenty swimmers or so. The calamity is priceless.

Colors. This game is stupid. Straight up. But my swimmers like it, so oh well. One person is out of the water calling colors randomly while people in the water try to get to the other side without being tagged. They only leave for the other side if the person calls their color. This game is more one on one, which can be beneficial. However, last time I played this a ten year old boy spent fifteen minutes guessing colors and tagging no one. He was the only boy that day, with about twelve girls, all of whom picked colors like (click on color to see what it looks like) sarcoline, smaragdine, and amaranth. He couldn’t get passed the three primary colors and three secondary colors. I finally took him out of his misery, and much embarrassment, as I commanded one of the girls to leave the wall very loudly. His non-verbal gratitude was stronger than words can express.

My swimmers don’t get to ease up in practice very often, but when they do their cheers can be heard over the rest of the pool, which is already as loud as any concert, and they cry from sheer excitement. But as an age group coach, I realize that these simple activities are what keep my swimmers engaged, motivated, and happy. They may not make my swimmers improve their times, but games are just as important as a set of no breathers (link to first entry). For having fun is what keeps swimmers disciplined. Remembering that can save swimmers from just focusing on numbers.